Police hunting clues in pair of wrecks in Winder

Investigators in Winder continued to search for clues Wednesday to begin to understand a pair of crashes that killed five people at almost the same spot on Georgia Highway 11 within a week.

In both wrecks, a northbound vehicle crossed the centerline of the road just north of a bridge over Marbury Creek to collide head-on with an oncoming vehicle in the southbound lane.

"We've never had accidents like this," said Winder Police Capt. Dennis Dorsey. "They're looking for road defects, anything you can put a finger on."

The stretch of highway does not have a history of serious crashes before these, he said.

The investigators also are awaiting toxicology results on the drivers before filing any charges, he said.

In Tuesday's wreck, a Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle driven by Margot Toney crossed the Ga. 11 centerline at about 9:30 a.m. to collide with a taxi. The crash killed the driver of the Winder Barrow Cab taxi, Donna Sheppard, 48, of Winder, and her passenger, Daniel Marbut, 66. Toney was taken to an Athens hospital and reported in good condition, Dorsey said.

A week earlier, three people were killed about 1 a.m. May 13 when 18-year-old Levi Brooks of Statham, driving a Dodge Neon, tried to pass a tractor-trailer despite a double yellow line on the highway heading into Winder.

The Neon crashed into a Mercury Grand Marquis headed the other way, setting both vehicles ablaze.

The driver of the Mercury, Wilber F. Taylor, 71, of Monroe, and his wife, Dorothy Jean Pike-Taylor, 70, of Monroe, were killed. Derrick Banks, 21, of Statham, a passenger in the Neon, also died after he was pulled out of the burning car.

A passenger in the Taylors' vehicle, Gerald Whitlow, 65, of Winder, remained in critical but stable condition Wednesday at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Brooks was reported in good condition Tuesday at Gwinnett Medical Center.